One and a half hours passed by silently as neither ShuîYuê nor Ghost King spoke, the third hour's bell rang indicating that the two hours of her punishment for today was over, "It's over," Ghost King informed moving aside so that ShuîYuê could get up, she tried to but her knees gave in and she fell on the floor bitting her lips in pain.

Chéng Huá crouched down to her, "Are you okay?" he asked, ShuîYuê closed her eyes, feeling too hot. Ghost King touched her forehead with the back of his hand, "You are burning, Let's go somewhere so you can cool down."

"I am fine," she replied, trying to get up, but she lost her balance once again.

Ghost King gently lifted her right hand over his shoulder when ShuîYuê hissed, "Not my right arm! It hurts to lift it too high," she screamed, clutching it in pain.

Chéng Huá got up going to the other side as he lifted the girl in his arms, who was half fainting and half embarrassed; she couldn't keep her eyes open as the hot sun hit her head. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

Ghost King looked around for a cool place, it was all barren near the cold palace he noticed birds flying ahead of him, so he followed after them, this place had a water source somewhere he was sure of that as the trees and plants were much more green and he could hear the twitter of birds ahead, he glanced down at Water Master who was unconscious in his arms, why would she yell at the Emperor of Heaven for someone like him? Someone who was nothing more than a stranger to her, someone who had no use for her other than wanting to know the secret from her.

Huá did not receive kindness easily, and he wasn't one to give what he didn't receive in the first place, he was the Ghost King who scared people from just the mention of his name, they were ghosts who did all sorts of wrongs, from stealing to seizing territories there wasn't anything illegal left that Huá and his friends hadn't done, he was used to the scared glances he received whenever he walked by anyone who knew he was Ghost King and he was also used to the insults he had to face, he didn't mind them not when he had gone through worse things than scared looks or some stupid insults.

He wanted to give back some kindness for the courage she had shown, she wasn't courageous, but his informant told him that she was quite skilful in avoiding conflict as she usually left the situation before it increased, she also wasn't muscle-headed to run straight into things she didn't know about, unlike someone he knew all too well, someone who went by the name of Yông Zìxìn.

She was smart and observant and courageous too, his eyes stared at the fading scar on her forehead and then at her hand which was wrapped in bandages, she was brave to fight Zìxìn, he had to give her that, for just this moment he didn't think of his revenge or wanting to use her for knowing the secret, just this once he was being kind to her purely because she had stood up for him, and this would be the last time that he would stray away from his motive.

When she opened her eyes she didn't know for how long she was unconscious but she was still in his arms as he walked towards the back of the palace which had lots of trees, the cool crisp breeze tickled her face, she felt far better than before.

"Awake?" he asked when he felt her lift her head off his shoulder.

"Hmm," she mumbled, looking around while blinking rapidly.

He put her down near a big pond, ShuîYuê dipped her hand in the water the second she was put down, she closed her eyes as the cool water slowly calmed her high temperature, a second later when she opened her eyes her vision was blurry she tried to rub her eyes with her hands blinking continuously and getting restless, "I can't see!" She cried looking around with her vision gone completely, "Mom? Yìfēi? Jīnyú? Where are you?" She asked panicking as she tried to get up.

"Hey, calm down," Ghost King pushed her down by her shoulders; she kept on rubbing her eyes with a scared look on her face, "It's alright, you were under the sun for a long it happens sometimes," he assured grabbing her wrists from irritating her eyes even more.

"I can't see!" She cried worried for her life, people often reacted this way when they either lost their vision or couldn't see for a while, He moved aside when she reached her hand out and grabbed the end of his robe fisting it tightly, "Don't leave me alone," at best he could say she was requesting him at worst he could say she was begging him, "Please don't leave me alone, I- I can't see anything."

Huá blinked his eyes at the desperation in her voice, he was just moving to the side, he had no intention of leaving her by herself when she couldn't even walk without help, "I am not leaving you alone," he assured, she was still blinking her eyes trying to see, "Your hand in the water, keep it there," he added moving her hand back into the water.

ShuîYuê was more than scared, she had never been punished and that too under the sun, her health wasn't all that great thanks to the bloodloss from her arm some weeks ago, on top of that she couldn't see anything at all, she didn't even know where she was in the first place and her mom, Yìfēi or Jīnyú, weren't anywhere near her to calm her from panicking.

She was trying very hard not to shout their names for help, ShuîYuê could never be calm in places she had never seen worse when she couldn't see, but the temperature from the water was decreasing her high temperature and slowly her vision was starting to clear, she pulled her hand back to her lap feeling far better.

Some minutes later, she could see Ghost King standing up from his spot, looking around the place in interest. He seemed to like seeing new places as his eyes turned everywhere to take in as much as he could.

Something bit ShuîYuê's hand lightly; she leaned closer to the water to see what bit her when a small fish jumped in her face; she smiled; the fish was a small one, a baby fish whose mother was in the water circling the baby fish.

ShuîYuê's eyes wandered around the various trees and bushes to see if there was anything she could feed the fish when her eyes landed on some pea plants, she met Chéng Huá's eyes who picked a few peas giving them to Water Master, "Thank you," she said peeling the peas and feeding it to the fishes.

Ghost King sat across from her a few feet away, leaning against a tree, watching Water Master, who was busy feeding the peas; she looked so calm and soft. Would this person hold the secret of that filthy Jun Wu? Was this the same person who fought Zìxìn head-on? She looked too delicate for it; she looked straight at Chéng Huá, who was staring at her; she held up her left hand, which had peas in it, but Ghost King shook his head so she went back to feeding them.

Ghost King dipped his hand in the water as the cold clear water passed through his hand. This place was nice. "It's nice here," he commented as he played with the water.

"Isn't it? There's an even bigger pond in the Central Palace. It's got so many fishes in it that, you'll have to see it for yourself," ShuîYuê gushed excitedly.

Ghost King didn't reply, he felt serene in this place, "Is there red water in Hell?" ShuîYuê asked, her voice sounding scared; he glanced at her, who was looking a bit worried.

"Yes, and we have bloodthirsty creatures in there as well, who'll bite your hand off the second you bring it anywhere close to the water," Ghost King informed, sounding serious.

Water Master shivered in fear. 'Hell is sure a scary place,' she thought, shaking her head, trying to get the image of scary, bloodthirsty creatures out of her head.

Ghost King chuckled. This girl was easy to fool she believed whatever he said to her, "You know there isn't normal food like you have here," he added mischievously.

Water Master's eyes widened, "Really? Are you guys cannibals then? I read somewhere that people in hell ate each other?" she asked, worried.

Ghost King smirked, 'She doesn't even know in what context someone would take her words,' he thought amused. "Yes, I had an arm, a delicious one before I came here," he said, nodding his head while licking his lips.

ShuîYuê grimaced in disgust as Ghost King burst out laughing; she looked at him confused until she realised he was messing with her; she sent a small splash of water on his face; he was shocked as the cold water hit his face; he wiped his face with the back of his sleeve.

"You are so easy to fool," he teased, smiling; Water Master puffed up her cheeks in anger, glaring at him, 'Cute,' he thought.

"We aren't all cannibals and we don't have red water with dangerous monsters in it, but we do have rather peculiar things," he assured softly.

"What do you eat?" ShuîYuê asked curiously.

"What you eat here, I'll admit the spices in Hell are much better than here," he replied proudly.

"Then do people kill each other over a small fight?" she asked, from what she had read about Hell from the stories written by those who were lucky to have come out of it and from rumours she had heard.

"It happens sometimes, no one pokes their nose in others' business, and if something happens, people usually sort it out among themselves; if it is too much, then there are places for help as well," he explained to Water Master, who listened attentively.

"Ohh," she mumbled at last, averting her gaze back to the fishes swimming in the pond, speaking to him distracted her from the earlier anxiousness she was feeling.

_______________________________
Author's note:

Cold palace is a place built inside the Central pala
ce for disgraced concubines of the Emperor, it's where they are discarded for the rest of their lives or for the duration of their punishment, so Water Master was punished to kneel in front of it's gate for two hours,

Also, Ghost King's surname is Chéng which means successful, and his name is Huá which means splendid/ magnificent/ prosperous. He's twenty-five years old,

Word count: 1800 for chapter and 100 for Author's note, so in total 1900, thank you for reading. Have a great day !! Bye 👋